This application relates to the use of machine-readable indicia and codes such as bar codes, RF-ID tags and the like, for linking to distributed data resources residing on a server in a networked computing environment such as the Internet.
Packaged products have been historically identified by marking the packaging with a part number, serial number or other identification indicia in order to determine the contents of the package without causing an end user or a handler to open the package. Radio frequency tags, plastic cards with magnetic stripes, and bar codes are frequently utilized in industry to mark packages to allow automated reading and decoding of identification indicia using a scanning device such as an optical wand, portable scanner, magnetic stripe reader or wireless transmission system. During the purchase of a product for example, a bar code symbol is scanned using the scanning device, and then decoded into a string of characters, where the characters are then sent to a computer for retrieval of related product information that was previously stored in a database of the computer. The Universal Product Code symbol (UPC) is one form of a bar code that is commonly used in industry where the symbol is applied by the manufacturer and is subsequently used to trace the product from its initial manufacture through to delivery. The product is shipped from a manufacturers location through a plurality of distribution channels to wholesale or retail shopping sites where the products are ultimately purchased by the consumer.
This identification indicia only provides value to those business partners that can properly interpret the encoded data and that have a copy of the product database that contains the corresponding product code. End users or purchasers of products do not typically have access to this product information and must instead rely on printed information contained on the readable parts of the packaging to determine product information. A user requiring more detailed information than is identified on the package may be able to contact the manufacturer and personally request the information required by asking specific questions about a particular model and serial number of a product. This is a rather cumbersome process because the user may have to write down all of the product information and then find the name of the manufacturer, look up the phone number for the company""s sales department, then request information regarding the specific product of interest. Alternatively, with the proliferation of Internet-based information resources, a user may locate a company""s web page and search for the product by entering the part number, model number and serial number referred to on the product package if the company supports such search requests. In order to use the Internet to find this product information, the user must first identify the Universal Resource Locator (URL) of the manufacturer. Since not all companies have URL identifiers matching the company name or the name under which the product is sold, it is not always easy to identify the actual URL that would have the information desired. In addition, product and brand web sites are frequently located under the domain name of the brand""s holding company, rather than the brand name, complicating the search. Once a web site identified by the URL is accessed, the user may have to navigate through a series of web pages to get to the appropriate web page that corresponds to the product part number, model number and serial number. This process may be complicated by the fact that full identification of a product, such as the part number or model number, may only be on the product itself, and not on the exterior of the product packaging. Thus, a consumer attempting to perform pre-purchase research may have difficulty finding the specific product desired. Exterior packaging is typically marked with a unique code such as the UPC or EAN code, however since the consumer generally lacks access to the code-to-product database, and manufacturers rarely categorize their sites by this number, this mark is of little use to the consumer.
The machine readable identification indicia may be made up of character and numeric data that provides value when interpreted according to a correlated database. When actual product data such as part numbers and model numbers are encoded into bar code symbols for example, the text or characters are represented using machine understood encoding and decoding algorithms. While this machine-readable identification indicia may provide more detailed information to users that can interpret the symbols, it is desirable to use shorter symbols that are easily remembered or entered by users without requiring sophisticated peripheral hardware devices.
What is desired therefore is a system that may be utilized by end users or clients to retrieve product and other types of information by allowing the client to enter easily discernable indicia that is associated with a product symbol into a client computer to look up product information from a destination address associated with the user entered indicia. The symbol data is preferably defined such that it has a short length that may be rapidly entered by a user from his computing device. Preferably the computing device is connected to a network of computers such that data read from the symbol or the associated readable text of the symbol may be used to lookup information about that identified product on virtually any server computer interconnected to the network. These symbols may be applied to any item that requires identification at any point in the distribution channel, such that extended content may be associated with it.
It is a further object of the invention to be able to link existing product codes and indicia with data resources on a network.
It is a further object of the invention to be able to customize the data and product information that is provided to a user whereby the entry of a particular indicia or code results in the return of different data resources, depending on a profile associated with the user.
It is another object of the present invention that a universal coding system may be employed to support the lookup of specific manufacturer and product information without entering a long sequence of terms.
Provided is a method and system for providing a data resource referred to as a primary content file from a content server computer to a client computer, both of which are interconnected over a computer network, wherein an information server computer, a routing server computer, and a registration server computer are also interconnected to the network to assist in providing the primary content file. The present invention operates by inputting into the client computer a linkage code that includes a server identification code and an item identification code. The client computer extracts the server identification code from the linkage code, and then obtains a URL template associated with the server identification code. The URL template includes the name of an information server and at least one parameter field to be completed by the client computer. The URL template is completed by the client computer by filling in at least the item identification code obtained from the linkage code, and the completed URL template is then sent as a primary content URL request to the information server named therein. At the information server, the location of the primary content file is determined based at least on the item identification code, and the information server redirects the client computer to the content server to retrieve the primary content file. Alternatively, the information server retrieves the primary content file from local storage and sends it directly to the client without the need for redirection to the content server computer.
The linkage code may be a machine-readable code such as a bar code symbol, which is scanned by a bar code scanning device connected to the client computer. In the alternative, the linkage code may be a human-readable alphanumeric text string that is typed into the keyboard of the client computer.
After entering the linkage code, the client computer first attempts to retrieve the URL template from a local cache. The local cache has a plurality of template records, each record having a server identification code, an associated URL template, and an expiration date. The client computer uses the server identification code extracted from the linkage code to retrieve the associated URL template and expiration date. The template record is not used, however, if the current date is later than the expiration date. In this event, or if there is no entry for that server identification code in the local cache (or if local cache is not implemented), then the URL template is retrieved from the routing server on the network.
When the routing server is used, it will access a template database and return to the client computer a URL template and a current expiration date associated with the server identification code. The client computer then updates the local cache with the URL template and the current expiration date received from the routing server.
In addition to the item identification code, the URL template may be completed by the client computer by filling in certain user data. The user data may be a user identification number, and may also include information such as the gender of the user, the age of the user, the preferred language of the user, certain predefined interests of the user, and/or the geographic location of the user. The user data is retrieved from memory in the client computer, or it may be retrieved from a user database located on the registration server, wherein the user database is populated by the users during a registration process.
Once the completed URL template is received by the information server, it may use, in addition to the item identification code, the populated user data in order to generate and/or determine the location of the primary content file.
The client computer is redirected to the content server by the information server when it sends a primary URL to the client computer indicating the location of the primary content file (i.e. the URL). The information server may log the primary content URL request in a hit log. The information server may then communicate with the registration server to obtain further information linked to a user identification code from the hit log and thus determine more about the user that entered the linkage code.
In order to provide increased system security, the user identification code may be obfuscated prior to being sent to the information server. The obfuscated user identification code is sent from the information server to the registration server, where the user identification code is de-obfuscated and the user identification information is provided to the information server.